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Reprinted from the 

EDUCATIONAL REVIEW 

New York, April, 1906 



INDIRECT COMPULSORY EDUCA 

TION-THE FACTORY LAWS 

OF MASSACHUSETTS AND 

CONNECTICUT 



BY 



JOHN W. PERRIN 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




00001541352 



Gift 
Author 



* t r 



VI 

INDIRECT COMPULSORY EDUCATION— THE FAC- 
TORY LAWS OF MASSACHUSETTS AND CON- 
NECTICUT 

In every system of universal education, there are two essen- 
tial elements. First, schools must be established and sup- 
ported ; and second, all children of school age, either by public 
opinion or obligatory laws, must be required to attend them 
unless other adequate means of education are provided. 

This was fully understood by the New England Puritans. 
The first two acts relating to education passed by the General 
Court of Massachusetts created a system of universal educa- 
tion ; and Connecticut followed the example thus set when the 
code of 1650 was adopted. 1 From their establishment in the 
seventeenth century until early in the nineteenth, the funda- 
mental principles of these systems remained unchanged. The 
school legislation of the intervening period was either to make 
more ample provision for the establishment and support of 
schools, or to increase the effectiveness of existing attendance 
laws. Indeed, the very first statute on education passed by 
Connecticut in the last century did little more than reiterate the 
principles set forth so clearly in the first code. This statute 
was enacted in 1805, and required all parents to see that " their 
children are able to read the English tongue well and know the 
laws against capital offenses." It differed from the code only in 
the penalty fixed for failure to comply with its provisions. 2 

These early laws were quite faithfully executed in both com- 
monwealths. They expressed the educational creed of a ma- 
jority of the people, and the high intelligence that has char- 
acterized the people from the earliest times is sufficient evidence 
of their utility. It should be said, however, that the success- 

1 See article " Beginnings in compulsory education," by John W. Perrin, Educa- 
tional Review, March, 1903. 

• The Public Statutes of Connecticut (Hartford, 1808), p. 123. 

383 



384 Educational Review [April 

ful administration of these systems was due primarily to the 
favorable conditions under which they were established. The 
people were homogeneous and well-to-do. They were intelli- 
gent and industrious. Besides this, the Protestant creed which 
they professed had been from its origin the stanch friend of 
such systems as these commonwealths had established. Indeed, 
universal education was the basal stone on which Protestantism 
had been reared. This explains the unanimity of thought rel- 
ative to these systems, and the united action that was given to 
their support. 

A new industrial system began in the latter part of the 
eighteenth century. This completely changed the simple social 
arrangement that had characterized New England for more 
than a hundred and fifty years. In England, the inventions of 
Hargreaves, Crompton, Arkwright and Watt had revolution- 
ized the manufacture of textile fabrics. The old methods were 
superseded by organized manufacturing establishments. The 
cottage of the weaver could no longer be his factory. To sup- 
port himself and family, he was now required to move to the 
nearest town and engage in the employ of some capitalist. 

While this new regime was indispensable to the further 
economic development of England, it was attended with most 
evil consequences. Soon it was found that very young chil- 
dren could do the lighter portions of the work. Then many 
children from the poorest families in the south of England 
were sent by the poor-law-overseers to be apprenticed in the 
manufacturing districts of the north. Here they were treated 
little better than slaves. They were worked night and day, 
and it is said that " one gang, when exhausted, went to rest 
in the beds still warm of those coming on to work." 3 Besides 
this they were ill fed and poorly clothed. 

The overworking and underfeeding of these pauper chil- 
dren soon led to an epidemic of disease. In 1796, the atten- 
tion of the public was directed to the evils. This was done 
thru the labors of Doctors Aiken and Percival who had been 
appointed to investigate them. 4 The report they made empha- 

3 The state in its relation to labor, by W. Stanley Jevons (London), p. 53. 

4 Hansard's Parliamentary debates, third series, vol. xvii, p. 85. 



1906] Indirect compulsory education 385 

sized so strongly the evils of the factory system, so far as it 
related to child labor, that Sir Robert Peel, in 1802, introduced 
a bill in Parliament to remedy them. The bill became a law. 
It is known as the "Health and Morals Act." In addition to 
providing better sanitary conditions in factories; better cloth- 
ing for apprentices ; fixing the number of hours of labor each 
day, and with some exceptions prohibiting entirely night work, 
it made provision for the instruction of all apprentices in read- 
ing, writing, and arithmetic. 5 

Thus it is seen that in little more than a decade of years 
after the establishment of the factory system in England, legis- 
lation was required for the removal of evils that had followed 
it. In New England there was the same tendency to es- 
tablish factories. This tendency differed from that in Eng- 
land where there was greater capital and more skilled labor 
only in degree. Both manifested the same spirit. As early as 
1785 Boston formed an "Association of Tradesmen and Me- 
chanics." 6 Four years later Providence founded its " Asso- 
ciation of Mechanics and Manufacturers " for " promoting of 
industry, and giving just encouragement to ingenuity." 7 

Another evidence that this tendency prevailed in New Eng- 
land is found in the establishment of a large factory in Boston 
in 1788 or 1789. This was for the manufacture of linen 
canvas. Besides this, Weeden says that " from 1785 to 1791 
cotton was being introduced into the Southern States from 
West Indian seed, to meet the new demand for Northern manu- 
facturers as well as for exportation." 8 But the real develop- 
ment of the manufacture of textile fabrics began under the 
Embargo Act. At the end of 1807 there were but fifteen cot- 
ton mills in the United States. Two years later eighty-seven 
more had been built. In 18 10 Gallatin made his report on 
American manufactures. He roughly estimated the total an- 
nual value of all manufactured products at $120,000,000.° 

5 Jevons, p. 54. 

6 Economic and social history of New England, 1620-1789 (Boston), by William 
B. Weeden, vol. ii, p. 847. 

7 Ibid., p. 850. 

* Ibid., p. 851. 

* History of the United States of America under the constitution, by James 
Schouler (Washington, D. C, i88q), vol. ii, p. 29S. 



386 Educational Review [April 

As in England, this economic development had its disadvan- 
tages. In both Massachusetts and Connecticut child labor was 
used. The children, however, were not so cruelly treated as 
in England before the " Health and Morals Act." They never 
were slaves in any sense; but the practice of binding out was 
common, and this usually resulted in loss of educational privi- 
leges. This evil was so great in Connecticut that by 18 13 the 
old compulsory attendance laws were practically a dead letter 
in many localities. But the spirit of old Puritan days was not 
extinct. Strong efforts were put forth to destroy the evil. In 
18 1 3 the General Assembly took up the matter. A law was 
passed that required the proprietors of manufacturing estab- 
lishments to give attention to the morals of children in their 
employ and to provide instruction for them in reading, writing, 
and arithmetic. The selectmen of each town were made a 
board of visitors to ascertain annually whether the law was 
obeyed, and to report all violations to the : ' next county 
court." 10 

When the statutes were revised in 1821 this law was re- 
enacted and remained on the statute books until 1842, but it 
never realized the expectations of its friends. It had two de- 
fects. It contained no provision for school instruction, but 
merely specified that certain subjects should be taught. Thus 
the character of the instruction which after the teacher is the 
most important element in elementary education was left to 
the proprietors. The second defect was the want of a pro- 
vision requiring towns under penalty to organize boards of 
visitors. Dr. Henry Barnard said of the statute in 1840, " It 
is a dead letter in nearly if not every town in the state. I 
know not of a single instance where the board of visitation au- 
thorized by the act has been organized."' 11 

A new act was passed in 1842. This forbade the employ- 
ment of any child under fifteen in any factory, or in any other 
business, until he had attended " some public or private day 

10 Report of the Commissioner of Education, 1888-1889 (Washington, D. C), 
vol. i, p. 486. 

11 Public Acts Passed by the General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, 
May session, 1842 (Hartford, 1842), p. 40-41. 



1906] Indirect compulsory education 387 

school where instruction was given by a teacher qualified to 
instruct in orthography, reading; writing, English grammar, 
geography, and arithmetic, at least three months of the twelve 
months next preceding any and every year in which such child 
shall be so employed." Violations were made punishable by 
a fine of twenty-five dollars to be paid into the treasury of the 
state. The evidence required that the child seeking employ- 
ment had fulfilled the conditions prescribed was a certificate 
signed and sworn to by his teacher. Another provision fixed 
the hours of labor for all children under fourteen at ten. Any 
violation of this was made punishable by a fine of seven dollars 
for each offense. 11 

This law was a marked improvement over that of 181 3. 
If it had had the support of public opinion, there is little doubt 
but that it would have destroyed the evil at which it was aimed. 
But it did not have that support, and soon it practically be- 
came a dead letter. State Superintendent Daniel C. Gilman in 
his report for 1866, says of it: " In many cases the proprietors 
or agents of manufacturing establishments would willingly 
see the provisions of the statute sustained, but they are well 
aware that the law is not obeyed thru the state, and are appre- 
hensive that they shall lose both parents and children as oper- 
atives if they refuse the latter work." 12 

An important amendment was made to the laws in 1855. 
Before this date no age limit had been prescribed. In the new 
law the General Assembly fixed the minimum age at which chil- 
dren could take service in factories at nine. The law was 
again amended in the following year and the minimum age 
fixed at ten. 13 

The law of 1842 with various amendments continued in force 
twenty-five years. In 1867 it was superseded by a new act 

11 Public Acts passed by the General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, 
May session, 1842 (Hartford, 1842), p. 40-41. 

,2 Connecticut school report, 1866, p. 82-83. 

13 Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the State of Con- 
necticut for the year ending November 30, 1887 (Hartford, 1887), p. 156. The 
English parliament, in 18 19, fixed nine years and upwards as the age at which 
children could be admitted to labor in cotton mills. The same provision was 
made in the Althorp Act of 1833. Hansard's Parliamentary debates, third series, 
vol. xvii, p. 85 et sea., gives a history of English legislation on this subject from 
1802 till 1833. 



388 Educational Review [April 

which fixed the penalty for working children more than ten 
hours a day, or fifty-eight hours per week, at forty dollars. 
Half the fine was to go to the person who made the complaint 
and successfully prosecuted the case; the other half was to be 
paid into the town treasury. 14 

These various acts but partially remedied the defects of the 
act of 1842. In 1869 a new employment law was passed. 
This was by far the most important piece of legislation relative 
to child labor yet enacted in this state. The law of 1842 for- 
bade the employment of children under fifteen years of age' 
unless they had been in school three months of the preceding 
year. The new law changed this limit to fourteen. Just why 
this change was made is not clear. It may have been a con- 
cession to employers and parents to make the other provisions 
of the law which were more exacting than the law of 1842 
seem less stringent. " By the latter act only manufacturers, 
agents, and superintendents could be prosecuted ; under the new 
act all employers were liable to prosecution. The penalty was 
a fine as originally, but it was increased from twenty to one 
hundred dollars. It again improved on the act of 1842, which 
required boards of visitors to examine into the execution of the 
law and report violations of it, when it required state attorneys 
and grand juries to co-operate with them. But still more im- 
portant was the provision that authorized the State Board of 
Education to appoint one of its number or some other suitable 
person as agent to enforce the law. 15 This agent was to be 
under the control of the State Board of Education at all times. 
The act of 1842 had left the execution of the law to local 
boards which at best meant that the law would be only partially 
enforced. 

The most serious objection that could be urged against the 
act of 1869 was destroyed by a new law passed two years later. 
The act of 1869 took children out of factories, or kept them 
out if they had not yet taken employment. But it did not send 
them to school : this was the purpose of the law of 1871. The 
new law provided that all parents or guardians of children who 

14 Public Acts Passed by the General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, 1866 
to 1871 inclusive (Hartford, 1871), p. 119. 
18 Ibid., p. 333. 



1906] Indirect compulsory education 389 

had been employed in factories or other business and had been 
temporarily discharged for the purpose of going to school 
should see that they were put into school. The penalty 
for non-compliance was live dollars for each and every week 
not exceeding thirteen in any one year. 

This law with that of 1869 made a complete system of 
obligatory education for factory children. Many parents who 
were factory operatives regarded the new law as a species of 
class legislation and bitterly opposed it. Dr. B. G. Northrup, 
who was state superintendent when the act was passed, said : 
' The only objection made to this law, within my knowledge, 
is its limitation to the parents and guardians of those children 
who are hired out. They ask, * while we are justly required to 
send our children to school, why are the parents of children 
unemployed, it may be the idle and vicious, excused? ' This 
has the look of class legislation. Make this law impartial and 
universal in its obligation, and you remove the only real ob- 
jection as yet urged against it." 10 The opposition of the fac- 
tory operatives had a good result. It was one of the factors 
that led to the law of 1872 which established obligatory educa- 
tion thruout the state irrespective of class. 

Since 1871 the law has been modified several times, but the 
principle has remained the same. As it now stands " no child 
under fourteen years of age shall be employed in any mechani- 
cal, mercantile or manufacturing establishment." " No minor 
under sixteen shall be employed " in such establishments " more 
than ten hours in any day, except when it is necessary to make 
repairs to prevent the interruption of the ordinary running of 
the machinery, or where a different apportionment of the hours 
is made for the sole purpose of making a shorter day's work 
for one day of the week." If the child is illiterate he must be 
at least sixteen before he can take such service, and then "cannot 
be employed except during school vacation " unless he attends 
an evening school or " complies with other educational require- 
ments." 17 

Legislation on this subject did not begin as early in Massa- 

16 Report of Commissioner of Education, 1881-89, v0 ^* '1 P- 48"?. 
11 General Statutes of 10,02, ch. 130, 132, 273. 



390 Educational Review [April 

chusetts as in Connecticut. The first Massachusetts act was in 
1836. The immigration of a manufacturing and a foreign 
population had destroyed the former homogeneity of the people. 
Where formerly there had been unanimity of thought and 
action in the solution of educational problems there were now 
many differing opinions. Society was divided into sects and 
classes, not all of which espoused the cause of popular educa- 
tion. Some indeed antagonized it. The system that had an- 
swered the needs of the commonwealth almost from the day 
of its first settlement began to lose its vitality. It was seem- 
ingly unable to deal with the problem. In 1834, alarmed at 
the condition which confronted it, the state made provision for 
a public school fund; and two years later passed the act to 
which reference has been made. 

The law was approved by the governor April 1, 1837. It 
provided that no child under fifteen years should be employed in 
any manufacturing establishment unless he had attended some 
public or private day school kept by some qualified teacher at 
least three months of the twelve immediately preceding the 
year in which he was employed. Employers who violated this 
provision were liable to a fine of fifty dollars which was to 
be paid into the town treasury for the use of the schools. 18 

This was a more advanced step than Connecticut had yet 
taken. It cannot be said, however, to have been a much greater 
one than England had taken in the Hobhouse and Althrop 
Acts of 1825 and 1833. The first of these made a thoro re- 
striction of the labor of children under sixteen years of age 
and provided for a " quarter-holiday " on Saturday. By the 
act of 1833 the education of factory children was made com- 
pulsory. Children were not to work more than nine hours 
each day, and were required to spend two more hours daily in 
school. 19 

Massachusetts amended her act of 1836, in 1837 or 1838, so 
as to release employers from liability to punishment, in case 

11 Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1836 (Boston, 1836), p. 950. 

19 " It is said that this ' half-time ' principle was quite accidentally discovered. 
Some means being sought whereby evidence should be available that a child was 
not working at a certain hour, it was suggested by Mr. Chadwick that presence in 
school would afford the best possible evidence," Jevons, p. 55, 56. 



1906J Indirect compulsory education 391 

they were provided with sworn certificates that the children 
in their employ had attended school the length of time specified 
in the statute. 20 Horace Mann, who was Secretary of the 
State Board of Education from the date of its organization 
in 1837 till 1848, wrote earnestly of this law in his report for 
1840. He urged the necessity of " limiting the greed of both 
heartless employers and unnatural parents." 21 In 1842 legis- 
lation was effected that limited the hours of labor of children 
under twelve years to ten. This was a backward step, for the 
standard thus fixed was not up to that set by either the Con- 
necticut law of the same year or the English act of 1833. The 
Connecticut law had limited the hours of labor of children 
under fourteen to ten. 22 The English act went a step further 
and fixed the hours of labor for children between the ages of 
nine and thirteen at nine. 

From this date until 1866 most of the legislation relating 
to obligatory education had reference to the truancy problem 
which had now become an exceedingly troublesome one. 
However, in 1865 an act was passed that required eighteen 
weeks of each year in school of all working children under 
twelve years, and twelve weeks of all between twelve and fif- 
teen years. In this same year a resolution was passed by the 
legislature that authorized the governor to appoint a commis- 
sion " to collect information and statistics in regard to the hours 
of labor, and the conditions and prospects of the industrial 
classes." Governor Andrew appointed such a commission in 
February of the next year. The commissioners first considered 
the education of the children. They said in their report : " A 
saddening amount of testimony has been brought before the 
commissioners concerning the frequent and gross violation of 
the law." 23 The commission favored the " half-time " sys- 
tem, and recommended the adoption of some plan that would 

20 Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Statistics of Labo,r of Massachusetts, 
1876 (Boston, 1876), p. 264. 

21 Ibid. , p. 267. 

22 Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the State of Con- 
necticut for the year ending November 30, 1887, p 156. 

38 Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor of Massachusetts, 1866, p. 
273. 



39 2 Educational Review [April 

lead to it, if it were deemed best not to adopt it immediately in 
detail. As an inducement to its adoption, the commission fur- 
ther recommended that where the " half-time " system was 
adopted, and carried out in good faith, the laws then in force 
pertaining to working children should not be considered 
binding. 24 

The recommendations of the commission were never em- 
bodied in a statute. But the same year the report was made, 
the most important piece of legislation yet given to Massa- 
chusetts on this subject was enacted. Under its provisions no 
child under the age of ten could be employed in any manufac- 
turing establishment. Between the ages of ten and fourteen, 
no child could be so employed unless he had attended some pub- 
lic or private day school for not less than six months of the year 
preceding that in which his employment would begin. The 
school too must have been approved by the school committee of 
the place where it was located. Anyone knowingly employing 
a child who had not had this school training was made liable 
to punishment by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars. The act 
made one other important provision : Children under the age 
of fourteen who were employed in manufacturing establish- 
ments under the conditions already specified were not to spend 
more than eight hours of any one day in labor. Parents and 
guardians were made responsible for any violations of this re- 
striction, under a penalty of a fine not to exceed fifty dollars for 
each offense. 25 

In the next year, 1867, another act was passed that related 
to the education and hours of labor of children employed in 
" manufacturing and mechanical establishments." This pro- 
vided, as did the act of 1866, that no child under the age of ten 
could be employed in any manufacturing or mechanical es- 
tablishment. Between this age and fifteen children could be 
employed only after they had attended some public or private 
day school under teachers approved by the school committee of 
the place where the school was located, for at least three months 
of the year preceding the one in which employment was taken. 

24 Ibid., p, 273. 

25 Acts of Massachusetts, 1866, ch. 273. 



1906 J Indirect compulsory education 393 

They must also have resided six months in the state preceding 
the time their employment began. The school requirement 
was to continue every year until the age of fifteen, " Provided 
that tuition of three hours per day in a public or private day 
school approved by the school committee of the place in which 
such school is kept, during a term of six months, shall be deemed 
the equivalent of three months' attendance at a school kept in 
accordance with the customary hours of tuition; and no time 
less than sixty days of actual schooling shall be accounted as 
three months, and no time less than one hundred and twenty 
half-days of actual schooling shall be deemed an equivalent of 
three months." 26 Two years later cities and towns were 
authorized to establish and maintain evening schools for chil- 
dren over twelve years of age. 27 

Since 1870 legislation on this subject has been much the 
same in principle as that embodied in the laws of 1866 and 
1867. In 1873 at tne same session when the new compulsory 
attendance and truant laws were passed, a new act was intro- 
duced to further regulate the problem of child labor. But it 
failed to pass. It was offered in the next two succeeding ses- 
sions without avail. In 1876, however, it became a law. The 
principal feature of this law was that it made previous legis- 
lation on this subject apply to mercantile as well as to manu- 
facturing and mechanical enterprises. This was done because 
of the large number of small boys who had taken employment 
in the large retail stores as cash and errand boys. 28 The es- 
sential difference between this statute and those of 1866 and 
1867 was that it applied to children between the ages of ten 
and fourteen, whereas in the latter statutes the age limit was 
from ten to fifteen years. These latter laws had been modified 
by the compulsory law of 1873. This had extended the time 
of required school attendance to twenty weeks. 29 This pro- 
vision was likewise extended to the new law. 

26 Acts of 1867, ch. 285. 

"Acts of 1869, ch. 305. There was further legislation on this subject in 1872. 
See Acts of 1872, ch. 86. In 1883 the support of evening schools was made com- 
pulsory in towns having ten thousand inhabitants. 

88 Reports of Commissioner of Education, 1888-89, vol. i, P- 475. 

29 Ibid., p. 474. 



394 Educational Review 

The next law was passed in 1888. This prohibited the em- 
ployment of any child under thirteen years of age " in any 
factory, workshop, or mercantile establishment." Neither 
could such child be employed in any indoor work, for wages, 
during the hours when the public school of the place of his 
residence were in session unless he had attended school " for 
at least twenty weeks as required by law." Children under 
fourteen years of age could be employed in factories, workshops, 
or mercantile establishments only during the vacation of the 
public schools of the place where they resided, unless the em- 
ployer kept on file an " employment ticket " and an " age and 
schooling ticket." The former ticket gave a description of the 
child to be employed, and contained a declaration of the em- 
ployer's or agent's intention to employ him. The latter was 
a sworn statement made by the father, mother, or guardian of 
the child as to his age and to the effect that the requirements 
of the law as to schooling had been fully satisfied. 30 

The present law retains the provision for the " employ- 
ment ticket " and the " age and school ticket." The school 
requirement is made to apply to all children between 
seven and fourteen. In connection with this is a pro- 
vision to the effect that, " Whoever induces or attempts to in- 
duce a child to absent himself unlawfully from school, or em- 
ploys or harbors a child who, while school is in session, is ab- 
sent unlawfully from school shall be punished by a fine of not 
more than fifty dollars." The hours of labor of all minors 
under eighteen in manufacturing, mechanical, and mercantile 
establishments are not to "exceed fifty-eight in a week." This, 
however, is not to " apply during December to persons who are 
employed in shops for the sale of goods at retail." 31 

John W. Perrin 

Case Library, 

Cleveland, Ohio 

30 Labor la.7vs of Massachusetts. Compiled by Horace G. Wadlin, Chief of the 
Bureau of Statistics of Labor (Boston, 1890), p. 67-79. 

31 Revised Laws of 1902. Ch. 54, 106. 



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